First Day of Language School: The Journey Begins
Yesterday, I began a 10-month intensive language program at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language in Yokohama (hereafter referred to as “IUC” or “IUC Yokohama”). 50 students make up this year’s class—you can see our hopeful shining faces and those of the IUC staff in the class above. This is a very exciting opportunity for me, since IUC Yokohama offers an extremely comprehensive language program that is targeted toward people who need fluency to engage in academic research and professional work. It’ll be a tough 10 months, but hopefully I will come out of it with tangible results. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about it on this blog in the future, so stay tuned!
If you’re interested in the nitty gritty of the IUC program, the blog What can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies? has put together an impressive rundown of the first and second halves of the program from the perspective of a former student.
Related Posts:
Good luck! がんばって！
Thanks!!!
Thanks for the plug and good luck to you! :) The IUC is intense but an absolutely fantastic experience!
Well, thanks for the great series of posts! They were very helpful to me–and they saved me the trouble of having to explain what I’ll be doing to my friends and family. :)
Wow – that sounds like an amazing opportunity! Good luck! :)
Oh, you’re at IUC right now!? Awesome. I was there in 2007-08. Amazing program; hope you enjoy it, and get out of it, as much as I did.
Just saw these comments–nice to meet you, again! Actually, I’m pretty sure we never properly met in the first place. Last summer in Kyoto, I was doing the CLS advanced program, and the ~14 of us really never ever had a chance to talk to people in the CLS intermediate program or the other KCJS programs. Kind of a shame, really. But yes, I’m doing the IUC 10-month program now, so hopefully it will pay off. It’s really painful right now. :)
Yeah, the same of us in the Classical Japanese program. The eight or so of us never really mingled with the “regular” KCJS students much.
Anyway, as Aoki-sensei told us back in 2007, the program is 苦しくて、楽しくて、苦しくて、楽しい。There are the kurushii bits, but I hope you’re having fun too, and I do think it will pay off :) ちばりよ～！